Sunday 2 April 2017

EIGHT PICTURES: The Brewery Shades

The Brewery Shades, which stands on a corner site at the point where the town's ancient High Street meets the commercial developments of the postwar New Town, has been altered and extended several times; but at its centre is a 15th-century timber-framed open hall-house of a type common in the Crawley area in the Middle Ages. Few now survive, and the Brewery Shades has been protected as a Grade II listed building. The Shades (perhaps its original name), was built in the 15th century. Estimates of the date range from "1450 or a little earlier" [7] to c. 1500.


                                                        
In the 17th century another storey was added internally and the façade was given two gable ends. Further changes were made over the next two centuries, such that the external appearance of the building was completely changed. The ground floor was affected most by the alterations.


   

Although the medieval origins are now obscured behind a modern façade, substantial parts of the timber-framed original open hall-house layout remain inside. The oldest part of the building is the north–south range, parallel to the High Street. This has a gigantic tie-beam holding up a king post ceiling. The king post's structure includes purlins, chamfers and decorative mouldings. This façade has three modern gable ends and a tiled upper storey. Around the corner, facing The Broadwalk, there is a twin-gabled modern façade, again with a tile-hung first floor and a stucco-faced ground floor. This part is a modern extension. At the northern end, there is another original wing running west to east: it has substantial timberwork with chamfering, visible from one of the bars.
 

Reputed hauntings are a common feature of Sussex inns, and a wide variety of alleged paranormal activities at the Brewery Shades have been documented: a woman and child (a boy) associated in particular with one room in which a bed was once found alight for no reason; a doorbell ringing by itself during the night; and a man haunting the ladies' toilet. Historically, the word "shade" meant "ghost"—a possible explanation for the inn's name. 






All photos by Ian Mulcahy. E-mail crawleyoldtown@gmail.com

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